less is more, infact au natral is even better !

Todays exploration has proved that adding glaze to everything certainly does not always work and is not always necessary. My greenery impressed tiles are now out of the kiln and are looking interesting (no photos as yet) As id never tryed oxides before I got carried away with the process and transparent glazed all the tiles after applying copper to give a green acent and manganese for black/brown. I should on reflection have left some plain to show experimentation with texture also the oxides may have fired slightly differntly.

The other plain tiles on the other hand have now been put back in the kiln for a lower firing to fuse the decals I applyed today, which should be ready for Mondays photoshoot. I went for a freestyle approach letting the designs develop as I collaged them or simply laying decals as id printed them on some. The glaze on the tiles had turned out ok evening the textured surface of the tile while still retaining a subtle hint of the cloth texture underneath. Some were better than others in uniformity I think this is an area I need to work on.

One happy accident which occured directly as a result of using a shared studio/workshop space is that some of the tiles have a faint disscolouration to them from small particals of dryed clay on the cloth I worked them on in their raw clay state. I have since been thinking a lot about investigating the qualities of porcelain and adding colour to it in a similar was to this happy accident is something id like to explore.

Learning when to........s.....stop.

I was pleased to find my work had been fired to day, but that was short lived when I found out that the glaze had dramatical changed for the worse. My investigation into ceramic's has been a very eventfull one so far and the frustrations of he disipline have become apparent fairly quickly. Waiting for the kiln to be fired the unknown of glazes, and now the decals unpredictability. I had been very happy with the stoneware glazes particularly on my thrown vessels. I had after a lot of considderstion decided to add decals onto the glazed ware. Unfortunatedly I had not considdered the effect further exposure to heat would have on the glaze. It totaly lost the subtlety of colour and the decals became virtualy invisable on top of the darkened glaze.

I am rapidly going off the techneque of applying decals at the moment, but im sure with a bit of practice and more knowlege of their limitations and benefits I will find a way of using them effetively. I think that on the right ware with the right underglaze I will get the effects I was imagining in the first instance. For now though I would like to investigate a more organic spontainious approach to ceramic decoration that fits in with my connection to the clay while throwing. I am looking forward to trying out my porceline clay samples to see the difference in texture to the AWS clay body I have already used, and also how this new body behaves in general.

and this

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Make-The-Low-Cost-Inventory-Storage-System/

Love this site too.

http://www.thereallygoodlife.com

oh and this!

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/04/diy-project-natashas-babydoll-coat-rack.html

A Little crazy but it makes so much sense if you think about it.

Oh I like this !

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jjevensen?section_id=6609129

I was looking for some new ideas on recycling junk into usefull storage as im over run with clutter being such a horder and found theses, love them what a simple but great idea.

at watched pot never boils !

I am now discovering the frustration of shared useage of a kiln! I spent a morning during half term industriously glazing my remaining work including a large batch of tiles. However yesterday they still remained the only ware in the kiln at college, and so are just waiting until the kiln is filled to be fired.

The project deadline they are for is looming large on the horizon, so I think a bit of sweet talking might be in order to hurry things along with the ever helpful Mr V.